One chance left for men's gold

THE soon-to-be retired Brett Hawke will go into his final day of
competition as the Australian men's team best chance of avoiding
the embarrassment of finishing a Commonwealth Games without a gold
medal after the men missed one of their best chances last
night.

Australia's tally in the pool has been bolstered by the women,
who, with Joanna Fargas' win in the 200 backstroke, won 10 of the
first gold 11 medals. Matthew Cowdrey is the only Australian male
swimmer to have won a gold  in the 50-metre freestyle for
elite athletes with a disability, breaking his own world
record.

The men's team has been the brunt of criticism from many
quarters since the Athens Olympics, with its once mighty aura
severely dented by the absence of superstars Ian Thorpe and Grant
Hackett.

At last year's world championships Hackett was the only man to
win an event  doing so three times in the 400, 800, 1500. At
these Games, with Thorpe and Hackett absent, the men have had to be
content with minor placings as England, Scotland and Wales have
eased past them and the Australian women have discovered more gold
in unexpected areas  Fargus and Stephanie Rice, for example
 not just from the superstars.

Men's veteran Michael Klim, however, kept the team line when
asked about the disappointing results so far. "We keep harping on
the fact that we are not as good as the girls I don't think
the young guys should be hearing that," Klim said. "They just need
encouragement. Obviously when Grant and Ian and myself started we
were winning a lot of medals for Australia and it's obviously the
reverse a little bit (now), but I have no doubt that people like
Kenrick (Monk) and Leith (Brodie) and those guys will step up for
Australia."

As Thorpe's replacement, Monk swam a brilliant leg in the 4 x
200 freestyle relay while another youngster, Eamon Sullivan, put in
good times before finishing out of the medals in the 100
freestyle.

But the first half of last night's mega-session of finals went
something like this: Klim, a gutsy silver in the 100 butterfly
followed by yet another winning trifecta by Libby Lenton, Jodie
Henry and Alice Mills in the 50 freestyle; then Brenton Rickard's
bronze in the 50 breaststroke followed by Fargas securing the
women's 10th gold medal. See the pattern developing?

So the hopes lie with Hawke, who will be swimming his last swim
for Australia before retiring. It is ironic and a fairytale
farewell that a swimmer who often feels he is in the shadow of the
team's superstars should be its last hope.

Papua New Guinea will be celebrating a new hero. Ryan Pini, who
trains in Queensland, beat Klim for the second time in six months
 having also done it at the Queensland titles in December
 to win gold in the 100-metre butterfly last night.